Library receives donation of the Qur’an

Text+from+the+Quran+Sura+IV%3A+Nisaa+verse+19.

Julie Christie

Text from the Qur’an Sura IV: Nisaa verse 19.

Julie Christie, Assistant Editor

It’s easy enough to admit that there are places much more diverse than HB, and that the students of HB rarely get a thorough immersion in other cultures. One program that strives to increase an understanding of other cultures is the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, which focuses on educating the general American public on different aspects of Islam.

In its efforts to increase the understanding of the message of Islam, CAIR has donated an annotated copy of the Qur’an to the HB library as an educational resource.

“It’s not meant to say ‘this is right and this is wrong,’” said library aide Isabelle Linder ’15. “It’s meant to educate.”

“We have Bibles here, so having a Qur’an will expose students to other cultures around the world,” said Ciara Mann ‘15, another library aide.

CAIR donated more than 60,000 other copies of the Qur’an to various groups, associations, and public institutions throughout America from private citizens and educators to media professionals and policy makers. The donation to HB is the second part of the Explore the Qur’an program, called Share the Qur’an.

The donation includes features that are specifically designed to make understanding the Qur’an as easy as possible:

  • The original text in Arabic

  • Transliteration to English (the pronunciation of the Arabic)

  • The English interpretation

  • Footnotes and commentary explaining what the passage of the Qur’an means by scholar Muhammad Asad

  • A table of contents that includes not just the name of each section, but also what they pertain to

  • A brief explanation of how to pronounce the transliteration of Arabic, as well as an overview of Arabic grammar

Students such as Katherine Bobek ’15 and Hope Sutton ‘15, are excited about the newest addition to the library: “Seeing that we live in a primarily Christian and Caucasian town and, in this day and age, we learn about some things in a negative way; it could really be enlightening to see what a different culture is like,” said Sutton.

“Seeing that we live in a primarily Christian and Caucasian town, and in this day and age, we learn about some things in a negative way, it could really be enlightening to see what a different culture is like

— Hope Sutton '15.

To learn more about CAIR and the Explore the Qur’an project, visit their website. To check out the Qur’an from the library, search the key word: Koran, or ask for help at the circulation desk.